Pa. lawmakers miss another budget deadline

The state Senate went into recess Tuesday and won’t reconvene until there’s a final budget proposal to consider.

Pennsylvania lawmakers missed the Tuesday deadline to pass a state budget, but there’s hope that it might be approved shortly after the Fourth of July.

State Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Carroll Township, said the Senate recessed Tuesday, and will continue negotiations July 6. She said it’s hard to tell how long talks might last until a final budget is passed.

“Things are happening behind the scenes, and a lot has to go on behind the scenes before we even see anything on paper,” Bartolotta said. “We’re getting closer. Hopefully, when we get back here on Monday of next week, we’ll have something tangible to take a look at.”

The constitutional-ly mandated June 30 deadline has not been met in several years, and the 2025 agreement was 134 days late.

According to Spotlight PA, the state has had more than a dozen late budgets over the past two decades, with lawmakers continuing to be paid during each lapse in funding.

State Rep. Andrew Kuzma said the budget has not passed on time since he was elected. He projects that a new agreement should be finalized during the second week of July.

“The single biggest reason that I ran for the House was because I saw a disproportionate amount of funding being sent to the eastern part of the state,” Kuzma said. “I will work hard to bring funding back from Philadelphia to our area and will support the budget so long as it does that.”

The Democrati c-controlled House passed its $53.3 billion budget bill April 14. Senate Republicans have said they don’t plan to pass a budget bill without bipartisan talks with the House and governor.

Bartolotta wants costs to be cut more before any sort of budget is passed, contending that the proposed budget is $6 billion higher than necessary and that numbers are being thrown out without any indication of where the money is coming from.

“We need to desperately keep the funding that we have in our rainy day fund to keep our bond rating up, and not keep dipping into our savings trying to pay for things without cutting what needs to be cut,” she said, “because if we don’t do that, we’ll be in this position next year with a much, much bigger shovel to clear out our rainy day fund. We can’t raise taxes on people. They’re suffering as it is.”

The Senate Appropriations Committee did nothing with the House budget deal until it stripped that proposal in a meeting on Monday, sending it to the chamber floor as what is procedurally a blank slate.

State Rep. Dan Goughnour, D-McKeesport, is disappointed that no progress was made to meet the deadline after the House passed its budget bill. He said that the Senate left Harrisburg without any sort of deal or plan in place.

In a statement on social media, Gov. Josh Shapiro called Republican senators’ decision to adjourn “disrespectful to the people of Pennsylvania.”

“On the day they should be sending a budget to my desk, they decided to go home on vacation,” Shapiro wrote. “We should work through this and finish the job together, and instead, they ran away.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman and Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Scott Martin issued a statement Tuesday announcing that the Senate is in recess and will reconvene once final budgetary language is ready to advance.

“This week, we have received the necessary clarity on many outstanding issues which were delaying completion of this year’s budget,” the statement said. “Presently, we believe we are well on our way to effectuating a full budget agreement in the days following July 4th.”

The latest wrench thrown into the budget battle is the issue of skill games, which the state’s Supreme Court ruled were illegal slot machines found in convenience stores, VFWs and small businesses across the state.

Lawmakers had been waiting for clarity from the court on how to potentially tax the machines. The court gave lawmakers 120 days to find a solution to legalize and regulate the games.

“I do think there was some hope of getting (the budget) done before the holiday,” said state Rep. Eric Davanzo, R-Smithton. “Just with everything we’re hearing today, it doesn’t seem like it’s (ready). There’s some policy issues out there yet. I would assume it would have to come down to the (skill games). I would assume that’s where it’s at.”

The state’s $7.25 minimum wage and recreational marijuana have also been sticking points in recent budget negotiations.

It has been 20 years since Pennsylvania last raised its minimum wage rate, and during a Senate and House Democrat press conference in the Capitol on Tuesday, several Democrats criticized Senate Republicans for their “unwillingness” to consider this year’s minimum wage bill.

“I’m disappointed that the Senate was recessed without coming to a deal, especially on Tuesday prior to the holiday weekend,” said Sen. Nick Pisciottano, D-West Mifflin. “We need to get the budget done as soon as possible to lower costs for Pennsylvanians and fund critical services.”